Evidence from Intrinsic Activity That Asymmetry of the Human Brain Is Controlled by Multiple Factors

Cerebral lateralization is a fundamental property of the human brain and a marker of successful development. Here we provide evidence that multiple mechanisms control asymmetry for distinct brain systems. Using intrinsic activity to measure asymmetry in 300 adults, we mapped the most strongly latera...

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Published inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 106; no. 48; pp. 20499 - 20503
Main Authors Liu, Hesheng, Stufflebeam, Steven M., Sepulcre, Jorge, Hedden, Trey, Buckner, Randy L.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States National Academy of Sciences 01.12.2009
National Acad Sciences
Subjects
Adult
Adults
Attention - physiology
Biological Sciences
Brain
Brain - physiology
Brain Mapping
Cerebral hemispheres
Discriminant analysis
Factor analysis
Factor Analysis, Statistical
Female
Functional Laterality - physiology
Genetics
Handedness
Human genetics
Humans
Language
Lateral stability
Left handedness
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Men
Right handedness
Sex Factors
Statistical variance
vision
Vision, Ocular - physiology
women
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Summary:Cerebral lateralization is a fundamental property of the human brain and a marker of successful development. Here we provide evidence that multiple mechanisms control asymmetry for distinct brain systems. Using intrinsic activity to measure asymmetry in 300 adults, we mapped the most strongly lateralized brain regions. Both men and women showed strong asymmetries with a significant, but small, group difference. Factor analysis on the asymmetric regions revealed 4 separate factors that each accounted for significant variation across subjects. The factors were associated with brain systems involved in vision, internal thought (the default network), attention, and language. An independent sample of right- and left-handed individuals showed that hand dominance affects brain asymmetry but differentially across the 4 factors supporting their independence. These findings show the feasibility of measuring brain asymmetry using intrinsic activity fluctuations and suggest that multiple genetic or environmental mechanisms control cerebral lateralization.
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Author contributions: H.L. and R.L.B. designed research; H.L. performed research; S.M.S., J.S., and T.H. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; H.L. and R.L.B. analyzed data; and H.L. and R.L.B. wrote the paper.
Edited by Marcus E. Raichle, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, and approved October 12, 2009
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.0908073106